Projects

Use the Projects module to collaborate on and track the progress of tasks related to a project. Projects have been designed like a Kanban board to easily view, track, and change the status of a task by simply clicking and dragging it to the proper stage as it moves along the process.

Project Dashboard

The Project Dashboard shows you an overview of all your projects and latest activity.

• Projects: Click on the Projects button to go to a list view of all projects you have access to and perform a search.
• Active Projects: Shows a list of all the active projects you have access to, the number of tasks in each stage, and the project completion percentage. Click on the project name to view the project and tasks.
• Activity Feed: Shows a list of the most recent task activity related to projects. Click on the project name to view the project and tasks.

Create a new Project

To create a new project, hover over the little arrow on the Projects button. Click Create Project.

• Name - Enter the Project name.
• Description - Enter a brief description of the Project.
• Accounts - Begin typing the name of a related account. You can associate any number of accounts to this Project. If you create the project from the account detail view portlet, the account name will automatically populate.
• Contacts- Begin typing the name of a related contact. You can associate any number of contacts to this Project. If you create the project from the contact detail view portlet, the contact name will automatically populate.
• Opportunities- Begin typing the name of a related opportunity. You can associate any number of opportunities to this Project. If you create the project from the opportunity detail view portlet, the opportunity name will automatically populate.
• Status - A project can either be Active or Archived. Only active projects are listed in the project dashboard.

Project Details

Once you save your new project, you will be brought to the project detail view. If there are no tasks created yet, you will see the following screen:

• Details: Hover over the Details button to see the project name and description
• Options: Based on your permissions, you may have the option to Edit or Delete the project.
• Create Task: Click this button to create a new project task.

Create a Task

To create a new project task, click the Create Task button.

Enter the task Name. You can additionally enter a Description.

Click Save to view the task collaboration options, or click More Details link to add additional task details, such as linking the task to a related Account/Contact/Lead/Opportunity and setting task permissions. The task is automatically linked to the Project. Many of the other fields in the More Details area will appear on the next task collaboration screen.

Clicking Save will bring you to another screen with Task Collaboration options:

• Check List: This is a todo list of items that need to be completed on this task. Enter the todo item and click Add to add the item. You can add an unlimited amount of check list items. Tasks with a checklist will appear in the kanban view with a green bar to denote the % of todo items completed.
• Comments: Different users can add comments on the task and click the Comment button to submit their comment. Some examples of comments can be questions about the task, or reasons for accepting/rejecting the task.
• Status: The status of the task. The task status automatically changes based on the Stage that the task is in and the actions performed. See the section below on Project Kanban Stages and Actions.
• Owner: This is the user who is responsible for the task. By default, this is the owner who is creating the task.
• Requested by User: The user who requested the task. By default, this is the owner who is creating the task.
• Due On: The due date of the task.
• Who is receiving notifications: A list of all people following the task and who will receive task updates. By default, this will always include the task creator, task owner, and requested by user. Any user can subscribe to receive email notifications about this task by clicking the subscribe icon: . If subscribed to receive notifications, they can unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribed icon: These icons also appear in the Project Kanban view.
• More Details: Clicking this will expand to show any related records as well as the task record permission settings.

The little gear button at the top right gives you the option to Edit the task (this will take you to the task edit view), view the Audit Trail for the task, or Delete the task.

When you are done, click the little green x button at the top right. Your task will be saved and your will be directed to the Project Kanban view.

Project Kanban

Once tasks are created, when you click into a project, you will see the kanban project view:

Project Task Kanban Stages:

• Someday: These are lower priority open tasks with a status of New that have not been started or prioritized. They are to be started someday in the undetermined future.
• To Do: These are open tasks with a status of New that have not yet been started but need to be.
• Working On: These are open tasks that are currently being worked on. Tasks in the working on column will have a status of In Progress, Awaiting Acceptance, or Rejected.
• Completed: Tasks that have been completed and accepted.

Actions:

• Start: This button appears for New tasks in the Someday and To Do columns. Click the start button to begin working on the task. The task will automatically move from the Someday or To Do column into the Working On column. Alternatively,  you can click and drag the task into the To Do column. The status will then auto change to In Progress.
• Finish: When an In Progress task is moved to the Working On column, you will notice a Finish button. Only click the Finish button when you have finished working on the task. When you do so, the Finish button will be replaced by Accept/Reject buttons and the task status changes to Awaiting Acceptance.
• Accept/Reject: When a user is done working on an open task, it now is in a status of Awaiting Acceptance and needs to be reviewed by the requester and accepted or rejected. If rejected, the button will change to Restart and the status will change to Rejected. The owner of the task will receive a notification that the task has been rejected. If accepted, the task will move to the Completed column.
• Restart: When a task has been rejected, the owner of the task receives a notification that the task has been rejected. When they begin working on the task again, they can click the restart button to let others know that they have begun working on the task again.

Completion Status:

You will notice a little green bar above certain tasks. A task will have a green bar above it if it contains any Checklist items that have been completed. The length if the bar denotes the percent of checklist items completed. A task with no checklist items will not show a bar. 

Task Notifications

Users who are subscribed to receive notifications on certain tasks will receive emails when certain actions occur.

Action	Description
New Task Created	When a new task is created by one user but assigned to another, the owner receives a notification.
Owner Updated	When the owner of the task changes, an email is sent to the new owner.
New Comment Added	When a user creates a new comment on a task, all other subscribed users receive a notification.
Status becomes Awaiting Acceptance	When the task status becomes Awaiting Acceptance (the Finished button is clicked), the task requester receives an email to accept or reject the task.
Status becomes Rejected	When the task status becomes Rejected (the Rejected button is clicked), the task owner receives an email.
Task Completed	When the task status becomes Completed (the Accepted button is clicked), all subscribed users receive a notification.